List of biologists
This is a list of notable biologists. It includes zoologists, botanists, and other specialties.
Do not add names, unless there is also a biography.
A
- Humayun Abdulali (1914-2001), Indian ornithologist
- Johann Friedrich Adam (18th cent - 1806), Russian botanist
- Michel Adanson (1727-1806), French naturalist
- Louis Agassiz (1807-1873), zoologist
- Alexander Agassiz, zoologist
- William Aiton (1731-1793), Scottish botanist
- Boyd Alexander (1973-1910), English ornithologist
- Horace Alexander, (1889-1989), English ornithologist
- Wilfred Backhouse Alexander (1885-1965), English ornithologist
- Alfred William Alcock, (1859-1933), British naturalist
- Salim Ali, (1896-1987), Indian ornithologist
- Frédéric-Louis Allamand (1736 - ? 1803), Swiss botanist
- Joel Asaph Allen (1838-1921), birds, mammals
- José Alberto de Oliveira Anchieta (1832-1897), Portuguese naturalist
- Aristotle, (384 BC-322 BC), Greek philosopher
- Peter Artedi, (1705-1735), Swedish naturalist
- Jean Victoire Audouin (1797-1841), French zoologist
- John James Audubon, (1786-1851), American ornithologist
- Richard Axel (b. 1946), Nobel prize winning physiologist
- Joseph Ayers, marine neurophysiologist and biomimetic researcher
B
Ba-Be
- Churchill Babington (1831-1881), British archaeologist and conchologist
- Curt Backeberg (1894-1966), German botanist
- Karl Ernst von Baer (1792-1876), embryology
- Liberty Hyde Bailey (1858-1954),American botanist
- Spencer Fullerton Baird, (1823-1887), birds and mammals
- John Hutton Balfour (1808-1884), Scottish botanist
- David Baltimore (1938- ), Nobel prize
- Joseph Banks, (1743-1820), biologist, botanist
- Philip Barker Webb, (1793-1854), English botanist
- Benjamin Smith Barton (1766-1815), American botanist
- John Bartram, (1699-1777), American botanist
- William Bartram, (1739-1823), American naturalist
- Anton de Bary, (1831-1888), surgeon, botanist, microbiologist
- Henry Walter Bates (1825-1892), English naturalist
- Patrick Bateson, biologist, President of the ZSL
- Nicolas Baudin, (1754-1803), French botanist
- Gaspard Bauhin, biologist
- Rollo Beck (1870-1950), US ornithologist
- Charles Emerson Beecher (1856-1904), US invertebrate paleontologist
- Charles William Beebe, (1877-1962), biologist
- David Bellamy (born 1933), English botanist
- George Bentham, (1800-1884), English botanist
- Robert Bentley (1821-1893), English botanist
- Claude Bernard (1813-1878), French physiologist and father of the concept of homeostasis
- Samuel Stillman Berry (1887-1984), U.S. marine zoologist
- Thomas Bewick (1753-1828), English ornithologist
- Colin Bibby (1948-2004), English ornithologist
- Biswamoy Biswas (1923-1994), Indian ornithologist
Bl-Bu
- Liz Blackburn - Australian/US discoverer of telomeres
- Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville (1777-1850), French zoologist
- Thomas Blakiston, (1832-1891), English naturalist
- William Thomas Blanford (1832-1905), English naturalist
- Pieter Bleeke (1819-1878), Dutch ichthyologist
- Günter Blobel, German Nobel Prize-winning biologist
- Carl Ludwig Blume (1789-1862), German-Dutch botanist
- Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (1752-1840), German physiologist and anthropologist
- Edward Blyth, (1810-1873), English zoologist
- Pieter Boddaert, (1730-1795 or 1796), naturalist
- Charles Lucien Bonaparte, (1803-1857), French naturalist
- James Bond (ornithologist) (1900-1989), American ornithologist
- Franco Andrea Bonelli, (1784-1830), Italian ornithologist
- Aimé Bonpland (1773-1858), French botanist
- Louis Augustin Guillaume Bosc, (1759-1828), French zoologist
- George Albert Boulenger, (1858-1937), Belgian zoologist
- Jules Bourcier (1797-1873), French naturalist
- Mathurin Jacques Brisson (1723-1806), French zoologist.
- Johann Friedrich von Brandt, (1802-1879), German naturalist
- Christian Ludwig Brehm, (1787-1864), German ornithologist
- Alfred Brehm, (1829-1884), German zoologist
- Thomas Mayo Brewer (1814-1880), American naturalist
- William Brewster (ornithologist) (1851-1919), American ornithologist
- Nathaniel Lord Britton (1859-1934), US Botanist
- Adolphe Theodore Brongniart (1801-1876), French botanist
- Robert Brown (botanist), (1773-1858)
- Morten Thrane Brunnich (1737-1827), Danish zoologist
- Stephen L. Buchmann, co-author of Forgotten Pollinators
- Linda B. Buck, (born 1947), American physiologist, Nobel prize winner
- Samuel Botsford Buckley (1809-1884), American naturalist
- Buffon (1707-1788) French naturalist
- William Bullock (1773-1849), English naturalist
- Walter Buller (1838-1906), New Zealand naturalist
- James Bulwer (1794-1879), English naturalist and conchologist
- Alexander G. von Bunge (1803-1890), German-Russian zoologist
- Luther Burbank, (1849-1926), American horticulturalist
C
- Jean Cabanis, (1816-1906), German ornithologist
- George Caley (1770-1829), English botanist
- Frederick Campion Steward (1904-1993), British botanist
- Augustin Pyrame de Candolle (1778-1841), Swiss botanist
- Elie-Abel Carrière (1818-1896), French botanist
- Rachel Carson, (1907-1964), biologist, author of Silent Spring
- George Washington Carver (1860-1943), US botanist
- John Cassin, (1813-1869), American ornithologist
- Mark Catesby, (1683-1749), English naturalist
- Francesco Cetti, (1726-1778), Italian zoologist
- Min Chueh Chang, (1908-1991), biologist
- Frank Michler Chapman (1864-1945), ornithologist
- Carl Chun (1852-1914), German marine biologist
- Stanley Cohen, biologist
- Henry Boardman Conover (1892-1950), US ornithologist
- James Graham Cooper (1830-1902), American naturalist
- William Cooper (1798-1864), American conchologist
- Edward Drinker Cope (1840-1897), fish, reptiles, paleontology
- Charles B. Cory, (1857-1921), American ornithologist
- Elliott Coues (1842-1899), US ornithologist
- Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer (1907-2004), South African zoologist
- Jacques Cousteau, French marine biologist and explorer
- Philipp Jakob Cretzschmar, (1786-1845), German zoologist
- Francis Crick, (born 1916), DNA scientist
- Allan Cunningham (botanist) (1791-1839), English botanist
- William Curtis (1746-1799), English botanist
- Georges Cuvier, (1769-1832), French naturalist.
D
- Anders Dahl, (1751-1789), (namesake of the Dahlia)
- W.H. Dall (1845-1927), American naturalist and malacologist.
- Charles Darwin, (1809-1882), British evolutionist
- Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802), doctor, naturalist, grandfather of Charles
- Armand David (1826-1900), French zoologist and botanist
- Richard Dawkins, (born 1941), British evolutionary biologist
- Anton de Bary (1831-1888), German botanist and mycologist
- Pierre Antoine Delalande (1787-1823), French naturalist
- Max Delbrück, German biologist
- Richard Dell (1920-2002), New Zealand malacologist.
- Paul Émile de Puydt (1810-1888), Belgian botanist
- Jean Louis Armand de Quatrefages de Breau, French naturalist
- René Louiche Desfontaines (1750-1833), French botanist
- Anselme Gaëtan Desmarest (1784-1838), French zoologist
- Ernst Dieffenbach (1811-1855), German naturalist
- Johann Jacob Dillenius (1684-1747), German botanist
- Theodosius Dobzhansky, (1900-1975), biologist
- Rembert Dodoens (1517-1585), Flemish botanist
- David Don (1799-1841), British botanist
- Alcide d'Orbigny (1802-1857), French naturalist.
- Jean Dorst (1924-2001), French ornithologist
- David Douglas (1799-1834), Scottish botanist
- Jonas C. Dryander, (1748-1810), Swedish botanist
- Renato Dulbecco, biologist
- Robin Dunbar, (born 1947), biologist
- Gerald Durrell (1925-1995), American naturalist
- Leonardo Da Vinci, known as an artist but mostly a biologist. Dissected hundreds of specimens and drew exact copies of it.
E
- Sylvia Earle, biologist
- Gerald Edelman, (born 1929) Nobel Prize for immunology work, later work in neuroscience
- George Edwards (1693-1773), British naturalist
- Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg, (1795-1876), German biologist and microscopist
- Paul Ehrlich, (1854-1915), German Nobel Prize-winning immunologist
- Daniel Giraud Elliot, (1835-1915), American zoologist
- Stephan Ladislaus Endlicher (1804-1849), Austrian botanist
- George Engelmann (1809-1884), German-American botanist
- Johann Christian Polycarp Erxleben (1744-1777), German naturalist.
- Johann Friedrich von Eschscholtz (1793-1831), Baltic German biologist and explorer, namesake of the California poppy
- Constantin von Ettingshausen (1826-1897), Austrian botanist
- Thomas Campbell Eyton, (1809-1880), English naturalist
F
- Jean Henri Fabre, (1823-1915), French entomologist
- Johan Christian Fabricius, (1745-1808), Danish entomologist
- Hugh Falconer, (1808-1865), Scottish paleontologist
- Leonardo Fea, (1852-1903), Italian zoologist
- Christoph Feldegg (1780-1845), Austrian naturalist
- Howard Barraclough Fell1917-1994), English zoologist
- Otto Finsch (1839-1917), German naturalist
- Johann Fischer von Waldheim (1771-1853), German entomologist
- James Fisher, (1922-1970), English ornithologist
- Ronald Fisher, (1890-1962), British biologist and statistician, one of the founders of population genetics
- Jim Flegg, British ornithologist
- Alexander Fleming, (1881-1955), British medical scientist
- Thomas Bainbrigge Fletcher (?) English entomologist
- Howard Walter Florey, co-inventor of penicillin
- E.B. Ford (1901-1988) British ecological geneticist
- Peter Forsskål (1732-1763), Swedish naturalist
- Georg Forster (1754-1794), German naturalist
- Johann Reinhold Forster (1729-1798), German naturalist
- Robert Fortune (1813-1880), Scottish botanist
- Dian Fossey, (1932-1985), zoologist
- Rosalind Franklin, (1920-1958), contributor to the discovery of the structure of DNA
- Elias Magnus Fries, (1794-1878), (one of the founders of modern mushroom taxonomy)
- Imre Frivaldszky (1799-1870), Hungarian botanist.
- Louis Agassiz Fuertes, (1874-1927), American ornithologist
G
- François Gagnepain (1866-1952), French botanist
- Joseph Paul Gaimard, (1796-1858), French naturalist
- William Gambel (1823-1849), American naturalist
- Prosper Garnot (1794-1838), French naturalist
- Charles Gaudichaud-Beaupré (1789-1854), French botanist
- Howard Scott Gentry (1903-1993), American botanist
- Charles Frédéric Girard, (1822-1895), French biologist, ichthyologist, herpetologist.
- Johann Friedrich Gmelin, (1748-1804), German naturalist
- Johann Georg Gmelin, (1709-1755), German naturalist
- Frederick DuCane Godman (1834-1919), English naturalist
- Samuel Gottlieb Gmelin, (1744-1774), German botanist
- Frederick DuCane Godman, (1834-1919), English ornithologist
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, (1749-1832), (part-time;)
- Jane Goodall, (born 1934), US zoologist
- Philip Henry Gosse, (1810-1888), English naturalist
- John Gould (1804-1881), English ornithologist
- Stephen Jay Gould, (1941-2002), US paleontologist
- Pierre-Paul Grassé (1895-1985), French zoologist
- Asa Gray, (1810-1888), US botanist
- George Robert Gray (1808-1872), English zoologist
- J.E. Gray, (1800-1875), British zoologist
- Andrew Jackson Grayson (1819-1869), American ornithologist
- Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon (1862-1933), British ornithologist
- Pavel Groselj, (1883-1940), biologists and belletrist.
- Felix Edouard Guerin-Meneville (1799-1874), French entomologist
- Johann Anton Güldenstädt (1745-1781), German naturalist
- Johann Ernst Gunnerus (1718-1773), Norwegian botanist
- Albert C. L. G. Günther (1830–1914), British/German zoologist
- Guranda Gvaladze (born 1932), Georgian botanist
H
- Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919), German physician
- Hermann August Hagen (1817-1893), German entomologist
- J. B. S. Haldane (1892-1964), biologist
- Christopher A. Hall
- William Donald Hamilton (1936-2000), British biologist
- Thomas Hardwicke (1755-1835), English naturalist
- Ernst Hartert (1859-1933), German ornithologist
- Gustav Hartlaub (1814-1900), German zoologist
- Hans Hass (born 1919), Austrian biologist
- Frederik Hasselquist (1722-1752), Swedish naturalist
- Arthur Hay, 9th Marquess of Tweeddale (1824-1878), English ornithologist
- Wilhelm Hemprich, (1796-1825), German naturalist
- Willi Hennig (1913-1976) German biologist, founder of cladistics
- John Stevens Henslow (1796-1861), English botanist
- Brian Houghton Hodgson (1800-1894), English naturalist
- Jacques Bernard Hombron (1798-1852), French naturalist
- Leroy Hood (1939- ), M.D., Ph.D. American biochemist, developed high speed automated DNA sequencer.
- Robert Hooke (1635-1703), British scholar
- Joseph Dalton Hooker (1817-1911), British botanist
- William Jackson Hooker (1785-1865), British botanist
- Thomas Horsfield (1773-1859), American naturalist
- Albert Howard (1873-1947), British botanist
- Eliot Howard (1873-1940), English ornithologist
- Sarah Blaffer Hrdy biologist
- François Huber (1750-1831), Swiss naturalist
- William Henry Hudson (1841-1922), Argentinian-British ornithologist
- Alexander von Humboldt, (1769-1859), German naturalist
- Allan Octavian Hume (1829-1912), British ornithologist
- Rob Hume, British ornithologist
- Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895), British scientist
- Alpheus Hyatt (1838-1902), US neo-Lamarckian
- Libbie Hyman (1888-1969), zoologist
I
- Hermann von Ihering, (1850-1930), German naturalist
- Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger, (1775-1813), German entomologist
- Jan Ingenhousz (1730-1799), Dutch-born British botanist.
- Tom Iredale, (1880-1972), English conchologist and ornithologist
- Paul Erdmann Isert, (1756-1789), German botanist
J
- François Jacob, (born 1920), French biologist, Nobel Prize
- William Jardine (naturalist) (1800-1874), Scottish naturalist
- Feliks Pawel Jarocki (1790-1865), Polish zoologist
- Wilhelm Johannsen, (1857-1927), (coined the term gene)
- David Starr Jordan (1851-1931), ichthyologist, 1st president of Stanford
- Adrien-Henri de Jussieu, (1797-1853), French botanist
- Antoine de Jussieu, (1686-1758), French naturalist
- Antoine Laurent de Jussieu, (1748-1836), botanist, biologist
- Bernard de Jussieu, (1699-1777), French naturalist
- Ernest Everett Just, biologist
K
- Pehr Kalm, (1716-1779), Swedish botanist
- Motoderu Kamo, cultivated kimjongilia
- Gustav Karl Wilhelm Hermann Karsten (1817-1908), German botanist
- Stuart Kauffman, biologist
- Johann Jakob Kaup, (1803-1873), German naturalist
- Janet Kear (1933-2004), English ornithologist
- Motoo Kimura, biologist
- Norman Boyd Kinnear (1882-1957), Scottish zoologist
- William Kirby, (1759-1850), English entomologist
- Heinrich von Kittlitz (1799-1874), German naturalist
- Karl Koch (botanist), (1809-1879), German botanist
- Robert Koch, (1843-1910), German Nobel Prize-winning physician and bacteriologist
- Alexander Koenig (1858-1940), German naturalist
- Albert von Kolliker (1817-1905), Swiss physiologist
- Charles Konig (1774-1851), German naturalist
- Arthur Kornberg, (born 1918), discovered DNA polymerase
- Heinrich Kuhl (1797-1821), German zoologist
L
- Henri Laborit (1914-1995), French surgeon and physiologist
- Bernard Germain Etienne de la Ville, Comte de Lacepede, (1756-1825), French naturalist
- David Lack (1910-1973), British ornithologist
- Frédéric de Lafresnaye (1783-1861), French ornithologist
- Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829), coiner of the term biology
- Hugh Lamprey, (1928-1996), British ecologist
- John Latham (1740-1837), English naturalist
- Pierre André Latreille (1762-1833), French entomologist
- George Newbold Lawrence (1806-1855), American ornithologist
- William Elford Leach (1790-1836) English zoologist and marine biologist
- Joseph Le Conte, (1823-1901), physiologist
- Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723), developer of the microscope
- Joseph Leidy (1823-1891), US paleontologist
- Johann Philipp Achilles Leisler (1771-1813), Dutch naturalist
- Juan Lembeye (1816-1889), Spanish naturalist
- Jean Baptiste Leschenault de la Tour (1773-1826), French botanist
- Rene Primevere Lesson (1794-1849), French naturalist
- Charles Alexandre Lesueur (1778-1846), French naturalist
- François Le Vaillant (1753-1824), french ornithologist
- Richard Lewontin, biologist
- Emmanuel Liais (1826-1900), French botanist
- Martin Lichtenstein (1780-1867), German zoologist
- Aristid Lindenmayer, biologist
- John Lindley (1799-1865) English botanist
- Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778), father of taxonomy
- Jacques Loeb, (1859-1924), German-American biologist
- Friedrich Loeffler, (1852-1915), German biologist
- Konrad Lorenz (1903-1989), Austrian founder of ethology
- Harri Lorenzi Brazilian botanist
- John Loudon (1783-1843), English botanist
- James Lovelock (born 1919), English chemist and father of the gaia hypothesis
- Anatole Stephan Loukashkin, (1902-1988), biologist
- Percy Lowe (1870-1948), English ornithologist
- Salvador Luria, microbiologist
- Richard Lydekker (1849-1915), English naturalist
- Trofim Lysenko (1898-1976), Soviet biologist and agronomist
M
Ma-Mi
- John Macadam (1827-1865), Scottish-born Australian botanist
- William MacGillivray (1796-1852), Scottish naturalist
- Marcello Malpighi, biologist
- Lynn Margulis (born 1938), American microbiologist
- Alberto della Marmora (1789-1863), Italian naturalist
- Othniel Charles Marsh, (1831-1899), paleontology
- Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius (1794-1868), German botanist
- John Martyn (botanist) (1699-1768), English botanist
- Francis Masson (1741-1805?), Scottish botanist
- George Mathews (1876-1949), Australian ornithologist
- Paul Matschie (1861-1926), German zoologist
- William Diller Matthew (1871-1930), American paleontologist
- Polly Matzinger, Immunologist
- Carl Maximowicz (1827-1891), Russian botanist
- Harold Maxwell-Lefroy (1877-1925), English entomologist
- Ernst Mayr (born 1904) evolutionary biologist
- Barbara McClintock, (1902-1992), biologist
- Edmund Meade-Waldo (1855-1934), English ornithologist
- Gregor Mendel, discoverer of heredity
- Edouard Menetries (1802-1861), French entomologist
- Maud Leonora Menten, biologist
- Archibald Menzies (1754-1852), Scottish naturalist
- John C. Merriam, biologist
- Franz Meyen (1804-1840), German botanist
- August Karl Arnold Michaelis (1847-1916), chemist
- Leonor Michaelis, (1875-1949), biologist
- André Michaux (1746-1802), French botanist
- Aleksandr Fyodorovich Middendorf, (1815-1894), Russian zoologist
- Philip Miller (1691-1771), Scottish botanist
- John Frederick Miller (1759-1796), English illustrator (primarily of botany)
- Alphonse Milne-Edwards (1835-1900), French zoologist
- Henri Milne-Edwards (1800-1885), French zoologist
Mo-Mu
- Paul Möhring (1710-1792) German naturalist
- Juan Ignacio Molina (1740-1829), Chilean naturalist
- Jacques Monod, (1910-1976) geneticist
- George Montagu (1753-1815), English naturalist
- Luc Montagnier (born 1932), French discoverer of HIV
- Rita Levi-Montalcini, biologist
- George Thomas Moore (1871-1956) US botanist
- Alfred Moquin-Tandon (1804-1863), French naturalist
- Thomas Hunt Morgan, biologist
- Desmond Morris (born 1928), British zoologist
- Roger Morse, professor, researcher, author, on bees/beekeeping
- Desmond Morris, (born 1928), British biologist
- Guy Mountfort (1905-2003), English ornithologist
- Ferdinand von Mueller (1825-1896), German-Australian botanist
- John Muir (1838-1914), US naturalist
- Philipp Ludwig Statius Muller (1725-1776), German zoologist
- Salomon Muller (1804-1864), Dutch naturalist
- Kary Mullis, (born 1944), biologist
- Otto von Münchhausen (1716-1774), German botanist
N
- Gary Paul Nabhan, (born 1952), co-author of Forgotten Pollinators
- Karl Wilhelm von Nageli (1817-1891), Swiss botanist
- Johann Friedrich Naumann (1780-1857), German founder of scientific ornithology
- John Needham, (1713-1781), English naturalist
- Christian Gottfried Daniel Nees von Esenbeck, (1776-1858), German botanist and zoologist
- Charles F. Newcombe (1851-1924), British botanist
- Alfred Newton (1829-1907), English zoologist
- Margaret Morse Nice (1883-1974), American ornithologist
- Henry Alleyne Nicholson (1844-1899), British zoologist
- Alfred John North (1855-1917), Australian ornithologist
- Thomas Nuttall (1786-1858), English botanist and zoologist
O
- William Ogilby (1808-1873), Irish naturalist
- William Robert Ogilvie-Grant (1863-1924), Scottish ornithologist
- Aleksandr Oparin (1894-1980), Russian biologist and biochemist
- George Ord (1781-1866), American ornithologist
- Eleanor Anne Ormerod, (1828-1901), English entomologist
- Henry Fairfield Osborn (1857-1935), eugenicist, AMNH curator
- Emile Oustalet (1844-1905), French zoologist
- Richard Owen, (1804-1892), biologist
P
- George Emil Palade (*1912), Romanian-American biologist, discoverer of ribosomes, Nobel Prize
- Peter Simon Pallas (1741-1811), Russian zoologist
- Edward Palmer (botanist) (1829-1911), British botanist
- Josif Pancic (1814-1888), Serbian botanist
- Paracelsus, (1493-1541), German alchemist
- William Paterson (governor) (1755-1810), British botanist and explorer
- Daniel Pauly, biologist
- Louis Pasteur, (1822-1895), French biochemist
- Titian Peale (1799-1885), American naturalist
- Donald C. Peattie (1898-1964), US botanist
- Jean-Marie Pelt (born 1933), French botanist
- Henri Perrier de la Bâthie (1873-1958), French botanist
- Christian Hendrik Persoon, (1761-1836), biologist
- Paul Petard (botanist) (1912-1980), French botanist
- Charles Pickering (naturalist), (1805-1878), American naturalist
- Gregory Goodwin Pincus, biologist
- Rodolfo Amando Philippi (1808-1904), German-Chilean zoologist
- Constantine John Phipps (1744-1792), English explorer
- Charles Pickering (naturalist) (1805-1878), American naturalist
- Felipe Poey (1799-1891), Cuban zoologist
- Joel Roberts Poinsett (1779-1851), US botanist
- Thomas Littleton Powys, 4th Baron Lilford, (1833-1896), English ornithologist
- Karel Presl (1794-1852), Bohemian botanist
- Nicholas Michailovitch Prjevalsky (1839-1888), Russian explorer
- Alice Pruvot-Fol (1873-1972), French malacologist
- Frederick Traugott Pursh (1774-1820), German-American botanist
- Paul Émile de Puydt '(1810-1888) Belgian botanist
Q
- Jean René Constant Quoy, French zoologist
R
- Gustav Radde (1831-1903), German naturalist
- Thomas Stamford Raffles (1781-1826), founder/first president of the Zoological Society of London
- C. S. Rafinesque, (1783-1840), zoologist who described many North American species
- John Ray (1627-1705]], English naturalist
- Francesco Redi, biologist
- Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach, (1823-1889), German orchidologist.
- Ludwig Reichenbach (1793-1879), German botanist and ornithologist
- John Richardson (naturalist) (1787-1865), Scottish naturalist
- Charles Wallace Richmond (1868-1932), American ornithologist
- Robert Ridgway (1850-1929), American ornithologist
- Henry Nicholas Ridley (1855-1956), British botanist
- Martin Rodbell, (1925-1998), biologist
- Austin Roberts (1883-1948), South African zoologist
- Alfred Romer, (1894-1973), specialist in vertebrate paleontology
- Robert Rosen, (1934-1998), theoretical biologist
- Harald Rosenthal, hydrobiologist
- Miriam Rothschild, (born 1908), British entomologist
- Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild, (1868-1937), British zoologist
- William Roxburgh (1759-1815), Scottish botanist
- Eduard Rüppell (1794-1884), German naturalist
S
Sa-So
- Joseph Sabine (1770-1837), English naturalist
- Julius von Sachs (1832-1897), German botanist
- Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (1805-1861), French zoologist
- Edward James Salisbury (1886-1978), British botanist
- Richard Anthony Salisbury (1761-1829), British botanist
- William Saunders (1822-1900), US botanist
- Horace-Bénédict de Saussure (1740-1799), Swiss naturalist
- Marie Jules César Savigny (1777-1851), French zoologist
- Thomas Say (1787-1843), American naturalist
- Charles Schuchert (1858-1942), paleontology
- Theodor Schwann, (1810-1882), German physiologist
- Friedrich Schlechter (1872-1925), German botanist
- Hermann Schlegel (1804-1884) German ornithologist
- Matthias Jakob Schleiden, (1804-1881), German co-founder of the cell theory
- George Schoener (1864-1941), German-American botanist
- Heinrich Wilhelm Schott (1794-1865), German botanist
- Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber (1739-1810), German naturalist
- Leopold von Schrenck (1826-1894), Russo-German zoologist
- Georg August Schweinfurth (1836-1925), German botanist
- Philip Sclater, (1829-1913), English zoologist
- Giovanni Antonio Scopoli, (1723-1788), Italian-Austrian naturalist
- Henry Seebohm (1832-1895), English ornithologist
- Prideaux John Selby (1788-1867), English botanist and ornithologist
- Nikolai Alekseevich Severtzov (1827-1885), Russian naturalist
- Richard Bowdler Sharpe (1847-1909), English zoologist
- George Shaw, (1751-1813), English botanist and zoologist
- Rupert Sheldrake, (born 1942), biologist
- George Ernest Shelley (1840-1910), English ornithologist
- Philipp Franz von Siebold (1796-1866), German botanist
- George Gaylord Simpson (1902-1984), American paleontologist
- Rolf Singer, (1906-1994), German born mycologist
- Andrew Smith (zoologist) (1797-1872), Scottish zoologist
- James Edward Smith (1759-1828), English botanist
- John Maynard Smith, (1920-2004) biologist
- Daniel Solander, (1733-1782), Swedish botanist
Sp-Sy
- Lazzaro Spallanzani, (1729-1799), biologist
- Anders Sparrman, (1748-1820), Swedish naturalist
- Roger W. Sperry, (1913-1994), biologist
- Johann Baptist von Spix (1781-1826), German naturalist
- Herman Spoering, Finnish botanist
- Kurt Sprengel (1766-1833), German botanist
- Richard Spruce (1817-1893), English botanist
- Agustin Stahl (1842-1917), Puerto Rican zoologist and botanist.
- Edward Stanley, 13th Earl of Derby (1775-1851), English naturalist
- Japetus Steenstrup (1813-1897), Danish zoologist
- Leonhard Hess Stejneger (1851-1943), Norwegian zoologist
- Georg Wilhelm Steller , (1709-1746), Russian ornithologist
- James Francis Stephens (1792-1853), English zoologist
- Kaspar Maria von Sternberg (1761-1838), Bohemian botanist
- Karl Stetter (born 1941), German microbiologist
- Nettie Maria Stevens, (1861-1912), biologist
- Gottlieb Conrad Christian Storr (1749-1821), German naturalist
- Erwin Stresemann (1889-1972), German ornithologist
- Carl Jakob Sundevall (1801-1875), Swedish zoologist
- William Swainson (1789-1855), English ornithologist
- Jan Swammerdam, (1637-1680), entomologist, microscopist
- Robert Swinhoe (1836-1877), English naturalist
- Colonel W. H. Sykes (1790-1872), English ornithologist
T
- Wladyslaw Taczanowski (1819- 1890), Polish zoologist
- Armen Takhtajan (born 1910), Russian botanist
- Coenraad Jacob Temminck (1778-1858), Dutch zoologist
- Peter Gustaf Tengmalm (1754-1803), Swedish naturalist
- Theophrastus, biologist
- Johannes Thiele, (1860-1935), German zoologist and malacologist
- Michael Rogers Oldfield Thomas (1858-1929), British zoologist
- Carl Peter Thunberg, (1743-1828), Swedish naturalist
- Samuel Tickell (1811-1875), British ornithologist
- Agostino Todaro (1818-1892), Italian botanist
- John Torrey, (1796-1873), US botanist, first professional in New World
- Joseph Pitton de Tournefort (1656-1708), French botanist
- John Kirk Townsend (1809-1851), American ornithologist
- Abraham Trembley (1710-1784), Swiss naturalist
- Henry Baker Tristram (1822-1906), English ornithologist
- Robert Trivers, (born 1943), evolutionary biologist
- Bernard Tucker (1901-1950), English ornithologist
- Edward Tuckerman (1817-1886), US botanist
- Marmaduke Tunstall (1743-1790) English ornithologist
- Ruth Turner, marine biologist
V
- Martin Vahl (1749-1804), Norwegian botanist
- Sebastien Vaillant (1669-1722), French botanist
- Achille Valenciennes, (1794-1865), French zoologist
- Francisco Varela, (1946-2001) Chilean biologist
- Nikolai Vavilov, Soviet botanist
- Craig Venter, biologist
- Edouard Verreaux (1810-1868), French naturalist
- Jules Verreaux (1807-1873) French botanist and ornithologist
- Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot (1748-1831), French ornithologist
- Nicholas Aylward Vigors 1785-1840), Irish zoologist
- Rudolf Virchow, (1821-1902), German biologist
- Karel Voous (1920-2002), Dutch ornithologist
W
- Johann Georg Wagler (1800-1832), German herpetologist
- Warren H. Wagner (1920-2000), US botanist
- Göran Wahlenberg (1780-1851), Swedish naturalist
- Barry Wakeman (1939-2004), American naturalist
- Nathaniel Wallich (1786-1854), Danish botanist
- Deepal Warakagoda (born 1965), Sri Lankan ornithologust
- Charles Waterton, (1782-1865), English naturalist
- James D. Watson, (born 1928), Nobel Prize-winning biologist, co-discoverer of the structure of the DNA molecule
- Alfred Russel Wallace, (1823-1913), British naturalist and biologist
- Philip Barker Webb (1793-1854), English botanist
- August Weismann, (1834-1914), German biologist
- Friedrich Welwitsch (1806-1872), Austrian botanist
- Alexander Wetmore (1886-1978), American ornithologist
- Gilbert White (1720-1795), English naturalist
- John White (surgeon) (c1756-1832) English botanist
- Prince Alexander Philipp Maximilian zu Wied-Neuwied (1782-1867), German explorer & biologist.
- Francis Willughby (1635-1672), English ornithologist & ichthyologist
- Alexander Wilson, (1766-1813), Scottish-American ornithologist
- E. A. Wilson (1872-1912), English naturalist
- Edward O. Wilson, American myrmecologist and father of sociobiology
- Henry Witherby (1873-1943), British ornithologist
- William Withering (1741-1799), English botanist
- Carl Woese, American microbiologist
- Sewall Wright, (1889-1988), biologist
X
- John Xantus de Vesey (1825-1894), American zoologist
Y
- William Yarrell, (1784-1856), English naturalist
Z
- Floyd Zaiger, (1926 - ), fruit genetics
- Eberhard August Wilhelm von Zimmermann, (1743 - 1815), German zoologist
- Joseph Gerhard Zuccarini (1797-1848), German botanist